HireCentrix News Updates

Approximately 647,000 minimum wage workers across the country will be ringing in this new year with a modest pay raise, as Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington are set to increase their minimum wages by nine to twelve cents on January 1. All seven of these states

will have minimum wages above the federal level, which is currently $7.25 an hour, but Washington will have the highest at $8.67.

The salary boosts will provide essential help to workers who struggle to to keep up with the rising costs of living on an average minimum wage salary of about $15,000 a year. The increases may also boost the economy, since job gains in the wake of the recession seem to be disproportionately concentrate in low- and mid-wage industries such as food services, retail, manufacturing, and administrative and wastes services..

HCX Facts

Healthcare Costs grew a cumulative 138% between 1999 and 2010 and outpacing cumulative wage growth of 42% over the same period. Average employer costs for health insurance per employee hour rose from $1.60 to $3.35 during the 1999 to 2010 period. This almost 110% increase in average costs per hour was much larger than the 39% increase in average employer payroll costs per hour for these workers KFF